Carcharhinus melanopterus - UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes
Publication
Asessment status in full
Vulnerable
Assessment status abreviation
VU
Assessment status criteria
A2cd
Assessment rationale/justification
The Blacktip Reef Shark occurs throughout UAE inshore waters. It appears to be a resilient shark, persisting long after other species have been overfished, although it is threatened by extensive fishing pressure as well as habitat loss and degradation throughout the Arabian Sea region. Although there are limited data on its status, other Carcharhinus species in the Arabian Gulf have undergone significant declines due to exploitation (target and bycatch) in many largely unregulated gill net, longline and trawl fisheries that operate within its range outside and surrounding UAE waters. Some management measures are now in place in the Arabian Sea region, although domestic fisheries are likely to continue. Though data specifically from the UAE are not available, individuals in the UAE are a component of a larger, interconnected and migratory population that occurs broadly in the north-western Indian Ocean. It is inferred that declines reported in the Arabian Sea region are representative of its status in the UAE. Based on recorded levels of exploitation and decline in habitat quality, it is suspected to have declined by 30-50% over the past three generation lengths, or about 34 years. It is listed as Vulnerable A2cd.
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Threats listed in assessment
In the UAE, sharks have been impacted by targeted fisheries until 2014 when a ban on export of sharks was imposed (Ministry of Climate Change and Environment). Sharks continue to be impacted by bycatch fisheries (Annual Fisheries Statistical Report for Abu Dhabi Emirate 2001-2018). Inshore fisheries are generally intensive throughout the Arabian Sea region, and in some areas, fishing effort is increasing. Marine habitats in the Gulf, including the UAE, are experiencing high levels of disturbance due to major impacts from development activities (including dredging and reclamation), desalination plants, industrial activities, habitat destruction through the removal of shallow productive areas and major shipping lanes (Sheppard et al. 2010). Corals in the UAE and Arabian Gulf have severely declined due to the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures, which is a consequence of climate change, as well as pervasive coastal development (Riegl et al. 2018, Burt et al. 2019).
Conservation Measures
Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures: